U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,541 to Bowman et al discloses a hollow panel structure positionable in near adjacency to a military fuel tank for discharging fire-suppressant material through the opening formed by an enemy projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,237 to the present inventor, E. J. Rozniecki, discloses a charged bottle having an improved passage structure for discharging fire-suppressant toward the fireball resulting from penetration of enemy projectiles into the vehicle. Both of these patented inventions are directed broadly to mechanisms for rapidly directing the suppressant toward the fireball (flame source), to thereby extinguish the fireball before it engulfs the engine compartment or personnel compartment. The present invention is directed toward further reducing the time required to deliver the fire-suppressant to the fireball.
The present invention comprises a hollow panel containing pressurized fire-suppressant at a relatively high pressure, e.g. 900 p.s.i. The panel is prevented from premature rupture by two reinforcement methods or devices. One reinforcement device consists of a series of partitions running parallel to the major dimension of the panel. A second reinforcement action is achieved by bowing or curving the panel walls along the minor axis dimension of the panel. A special feature of the invention resides from the fact that each partition is formed with a row of ports along its length so that the entire space within the panel constitutes essentially a single chamber. The single chamber design is important in promoting a fast high volume flow of suppressant to the opening formed by the enemy projectile. The high flow rate helps to rapidly extinguish the fireball within a relatively short elapsed time, e.g. 100 milliseconds or less.